Author's Pov
Beta Green wandered around the dining room long after the girl had left. First, he stood behind Indrik's chair, then got into his seat, then walked round to the other end of the room, pondering his discussion with the girl. He stroked his cheeks over and over as he wondered what he was missing. Indrik might be impulsive but he was not crazy. There was no way he would just choose to bring a random girl into the pack unless there was a reason. That was what he had to find out. He recalled the time he had asked her the reason why Indrik had brought her. She had told him she didn't know but before that, there had been a slight hesitation which was more than enough to confirm his suspicion. "Beta Green?" He turned around as fast as lightning, having been startled out of his wits. The new arrival was lucky to not be within arm's reach or he would have hit her when he spun. "Gamma Victoria!" He sighed when he finally recovered from his shock. "My gosh, you startled me." He exhaled, still trying to balance his breathing. "I'm sorry. What's troubling you though? I've been calling out to you for a while now." She muttered worriedly. "Was I?" The Beta murmured absentmindedly as he examined her. She was pretty tall for a woman, standing almost shoulder to shoulder with him. Her brown hair glittered under the lighting as her intelligent eyes studied him. "I heard you invited the girl for breakfast." She continued when she realized he wasn't going to speak any moment soon. "Yes!" He finally seemed to snap out of his thoughts as his eyes met hers, more focused this time. "I have a feeling there is something they are not telling us. A reason why Indrik chose to bring her to the pack." His voice started to sound distant again. "You know what? I think you are right. The boy has always made sure to avoid responsibility and now, he not only brings someone into the pack but chooses to be punished in her place? Something is definitely the matter." The Gamma's eyes twinkled even more as she considered several possibilities. "Exactly my point." The Beta exclaimed. "The answer could actually be simple, you know?" Her eyes lit up with excitement as she looked up at the Beta. He frowned as he scanned her eyes, trying to figure out what she was talking about. "What do you mean?" He finally asked. "Have you seen the girl? She is pretty. What if..." She didn't complete her sentence. She did not need to before the Beta understood what she was talking about and he shook his head vigorously. "No! No! No! She is a stranger to him. We know that because he had never left the Pack till recently. There is no way he would suddenly fall for a girl out of the blues. Besides, he is already engaged." The Beta murmured but he did not sound convincing enough, even to his own ears. "An engagement that he already turned down." She reminded softly. "Besides, love works in mysterious ways. I believe you should know just how real love at first sight is." She gave him a meaningful look which was rewarded with a bitter smile. "I should know." He muttered, his face looking sore like he had been forced to swallow an unripe fruit. Well, he had in a way. He turned to her like he had suddenly remembered something. "You didn't come here to discuss love, did you?" She sighed as the smile fled from her face and she suddenly looked tired. "No, I did not." She admitted. "Although, what I came to discuss is not altogether removed from it." The Beta's face hardened. "This is about Indrik, isn't it?" His voice sounded harsh and curt like he knew where the conversation was headed and totally did not want to go there. She seemed to notice this as her voice grew more urgent. "The children are worried and frankly, I am too. Indrik as we well know, is weaker than most. And now, we have not only had him whipped severely, which by the way is his first time experiencing such, but we have also sent him to the dungeon which is one of the harshest places in our Pack. What if he can't recover or worse, what if he ends up dead?" The last part came out as a choked sob. The Beta walked close to her and patted her slowly on the back till she had managed to calm down. "I understand where you are coming from. Believe me, I really do. To tell you the truth, it hurts me as well to have to do this to the boy. He is like a son to me, you know. It is what we have to do however. For the safety of the Pack and most especially, for his own safety. You know the risks that abound if we allow him too much freedom, don't you?" The Beta paused until she nodded. "It's alright. The children will understand while we have to do this someday. Till then, it is our duty to keep them safe. Every single one of them." Again, she nodded. "I know you are right." Her voice sounded cracked, "still, I can't help but feel sorry for him. The boy is purer than most and to be honest, he would make a better leader than Leon but because of something that is no fault of his, he is forced to lead a sad life." The Beta's face softened. "It is all for the greater good, Victoria. You and I both know that prospect would be nothing in the face of the problems that could be unleashed if things went wrong. It is too big a risk to take." "I know. It breaks my heart to say this but you are right. Things are better this way!"Indrik's Pov"Hey, dirt bag! You think you are better than everyone else that is in here, don't you?" A voice yelled from far up the row of cells. It was soon lost in the crowd of voices that cried in its wake."Don't waste your breath on the fool. Let's see if he is still going to be so cocky when we tell the guards about the romance he has going on when they are not looking." Another voice growled, the voice echoing so much that I could not figure out exactly where it came from. Again, murmurs rose in the corridor."That is the problem with all of these royal dogs. They think they are superior to the rest of us. Damned imperial piece of shit." A voice cursed from somewhere close by."Wait, royal? That can't be true. Whatever would a royal be doing here?" Another voice questioned."You had better believe it. That girl from earlier? I would recognize her anywhere. She is the daughter of the Gamma. And this moron here, I heard her call him Indrik, is the son of the Alpha. Little spoilt
Blaire's Pov"You are still here?" A familiar voice interrupted my thoughts and I raised my head. I feel disoriented as I look around, trying to figure out where I am. I am still sitting in the swing, with it swaying back and forth. Looking up at the sky, I realize that the sun is sinking into the sky in a brilliant mix of colours very quickly. I turn my eyes to the owner of the voice but am unable to see the face very clearly. Still feeling very lost and confused, I peel my eyes off the person and focus them on my laps. "Tell me you left earlier and came back." Jamil exclaimed then whistled as he came closer and picked some leaves out of my hair. "No, you did not. Did you turn into a tree for a while then?" My eyes finally clear as they settle on him. My eyes fill with tears as I recall what I had just seen."Hey! Hey! Are you okay?" Jamil questioned, alarmed at the tear drop that rolled down my face. He covered the distance between the door where he is still standing and the swing
Blaire's PovJamil did not like the idea of us breaking the rules because despite the fact that he was the most outgoing of all four of us, he also happened to be the most rigid. Weird combination, right? But with the two of us on his case, he had no other choice than to join us in our prison raid. I had returned my mother's bunch of keys before she would notice they were gone but that was only after I had removed the keys to the dungeon. With their help, I had been able to secure more supplies which was more extensive because Jamil insisted I bring a gift or something as an act of goodwill to the other prisoners. According to him, bringing something for one prisoner, especially when it was against the rules, would make the other prisoners mad which might make them pick on the prisoner or worse, report the prisoner just to spite him. The simple cure to that, is to bring something for them as well. They would be pleased with the thoughtfulness and voila, all would have been saved a lo
Indrik's PovI had been hoping that Blaire would take my advice and not return. So, what if my fellow prisoners had made their threat good and informed the guards? They had no proof to show that it really was her who had come. I could easily have convinced the council into buying that it was someone else. At worst, they would have worsened my punishment but at least, she would have been saved. But all of that went flying out the window or in this case, iron door as I looked up at Blaire, her tender face framed by the flickering flames. "You shouldn't have come!" I groaned, knowing that there was no escaping the clutches of the prisoners now. Obviously, I was not the only one who realized this as they all started to speak at the same time. As expected, they had all made illogical requests. Like asking me to help break them out of prison or to help them speak to the council to offer them some leniency. Like I would be here if I had that much power. I told them as much and they had pai
Blaire's PovHaving treated Indrik's back, I handed him a jar of water which he gulped greedily. I grimaced as I watched him. He had never been one to joke with his belly and now, he was restricted to eating only once in a day? Keeping this in mind, I had packed lots of energy food like legumes and whole grains. I watched contentedly as he gulped them down. Soon, he was done and he grinned his thanks. A fuzzy feeling consumed me and suddenly, all of the stress was worth it. "I'll just go attend to the others." I muttered half-heartedly. Even in the semi-darkness, I could see his eyes grow darker but I had to, for his sake. Picking up a sackbag, I headed out. Reaching the first cell that was not his, I was hit in the face by a horrible stench. A mix of dried sweat, rotten food, and a whole lot of other things that I felt much more comfortable not thinking about. "Hey!" He drawled and it took everything in me to not kneel over and puke all over his face. His breath stank like rotten
Ulo's PovI stepped away from the door, my heart simmering with rage. I wanted to punch something, rip something or just cause damage. I hated myself for having let her go in alone. What was I thinking, letting her go into that dangerous place all on her own. Sure, she would have wanted to see Indrik but I should have gone with her. Maybe then, whatever had happened wouldn't have. Seeing her like that l, so weak and vulnerable got me feeling so mad and useless. If only I knew who had made her feel like that, I would have gone to them right now and hacked them into a million pieces. "What happened with her?" Jamil asked, gesturing toward the shut door. "I don't know!" I snapped, starting toward the backdoor. I wouldn't be able to sleep now. All my tiredness and exhaustion from earlier had vanished in the wake of my anger. "Come on, Ulo. Not you too!" Jamil groaned as he came after me. "Something definitely happened in there to shake her up that bad. What....""Listen, I don't know,
Luna's PovI was going crazy. Or, that was how my mind wandering aimlessly made me feel at least. Never in my life had I been this holed up. After the breakfast turned interrogation session, I had remained in my room doing nothing other than sleeping and thinking, none of them doing me much good. I had managed the entire day inside my room and now, I felt I was going to go out of my mind if I did not get out. A major reason I did not want to go out was because of the two people that were just waiting to hack off my head. That and the fact that I was still a very unliked stranger but eventually even those were not good enough. I looked out the window and saw the moon glowing not so brightly overhead and thought about going out to the backyard. However, I had barely opened the door when the three friends came bustling in. I was in no mood to get into another fight so I simply stepped back into the room however, before I could shut the door, I noticed the usually very composed Blaire lo
Luna's PovMy ears must have grown beet red with the amount of blood that rushed to my face from the embarrassment of being caught spying. I had turned my back on them to take in more of the environment and now, I couldn't bring myself to come face to face with him again. What would I tell him? I had sneaked after them to avoid dying from staring at my room walls all day and night? They were going to have me hanged without a doubt. "Luna, it is you!" He repeated like I hadn't beaten myself up enough and I desperately wished the ground would open up to swallow me whole. I imagined the two men glaring at me with hatred and felt the blood pounding in my ears. I jerked when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around slowly wishing that I could just turn invisible. "What are you doing out here this late at night?" He questioned and I noticed with relief that he did not have a resentful look in his eyes. "I don't know. I just stumbled here, I guess." I tried to sound uninvolved but t